Privacy

News Letter

News and Activities

We would like to keep you updated on the developments towards the projects for the children of Uganda. Because without your support we cannot do anything for them.

You find information on the results of the work from the Astrid Uganda Foundation. The publications about the activities in favor of the Astrid Uganda Foundation and by the Astrid Uganda Foundation are presented here. Also the publications by the media and our own news letters can be found on these pages too.

At the end of 2008 I founded the Astrid Uganda Foundation, following a wish which my wife Astrid had voiced before she died on 11 July 2008. Meanwhile, the foundation has successfully completed a number of projects and we are now in the middle of the ASOD project in Kampala. I myself have visited Uganda a dozen times and despite the fact that my first visit to this country took such a dramatic turn with Astrid’s illness, I have come to look at Uganda as a kind of home ground. When I am in Kampala, I always stay at the ICU Guesthouse of Sander and Sarah van Zanten. For a long time, they adopted the position of a father and a mother for every Dutchman who arrived in Uganda for an internship, voluntary work or, as in my case, for foundation work. I have seen many members of staff come and go again at the Guesthouse, but I always enjoy being there. Nothing is a must, everything is possible – and breakfast is always typically Dutch with Dutch bread from ‘Brood’ with peanut butter on top.

During my stay in March I talked at length with Fred Obala and his wife Margaret of ARDI, our project which we closed last year. They told me that after we had left, they had had a very difficult time when all kind of things did not go the way they were supposed to. Meanwhile, everything is back on its feet and in operation and some groups of students have already successfully completed their exams and found jobs. That does look promising, indeed. Recently, Fred resumed control of his Facebook account and now keeps people informed through this channel.

Written by Jet Croijmans akaclown Knoedel

On 1st June five clowns from Global Clowning left for a two-week trip around Uganda. We wanted to visit several projects and bring a smile to children’s faces . Our trip started in Kampala and from there we visited Jinja, Mbale, Soroti, Kyere, Lira, Hope North and Kyampisi and finally returned to Kampala again. On Tuesday 9 June we arrived in Lira where we stayed for four days and visited ARDI, one of the projects of the Astrid Uganda Foundation.

In order to maintain the feel for the projects that we support as the Astrid Uganda Foundation, it is of great importance to personally visit the projects from time to time. Board members Anne Karthaus and Henny van Silfhout visited Uganda during the first two weeks in March. The main goal of this trip was the ARDI-project. Last year Fred Obala and his colleagues spent a lot of time on capacity building, or rather establishing an organisation so the school could open its doors. We went to take a look at the progress that had been made and if the first student forms had already started their training.

Naturally, we also paid John Tumwebaze of the ASOD-project a visit. The construction of the community center looks very promising in the photographs. We could now witness the progress with our own eyes.

In our next newsletter we will give you all the details about this trip.

In 2014 we received approximately €85,000 in gifts and subsidies. A wonderful result that has greatly benefited our projects ARDI and ASOD. Have a look at the corresponding so-called thermometers that we created for both projects halfway through February 2015:

ARDI

ASOD

The largest part of the above-mentioned amount was collected by institutional funding. These funds are charities themselves that collect money (such as ‘Wilde Ganzen’ (Wild Geese) or Cordaid), yet also funds related to companies or wealthy individuals. Fortunately, the Netherlands holds numerous individuals and companies with their heart in the right place, prepared to make a contribution to the support and development of the less privileged in this world.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is still not controlled. The symptoms are horrifying: Jaap Taal faced this fact from up close in 2008, when the virus attacks his wife Astrid. She is infected by the Marburg virus, a variant from Ebola. In both cases there a bleedings through the whole body, risk of death is 80 procent. Today his story is told on the Dutch television.

Africafestival 2014

The annual Africa festival in Hertme has taken place again and it was quite an event!

The public could enjoy Teta ‘the King of the Tsapiky’ from Madagascar and Mamar Kassey from Niger. After more than 15 years Habib Koité attended the festival for the third time and Les Ambassadeurs came together again for a historic reunion after thirty years. In addition to this the Debre Berhan & Fendika circus provided a great show with their magnificent acrobatics and exhilarating dance. The rain did not prevent the visitors from enjoying the colourful market or the delicious snacks at one of the many African snack bars.

Even for us the day was a success despite the code yellow alert. Although the 2.0 version of our stand was not quite finished, many enthusiastic people paid us a visit. We received wonderful responses. The new strategy that was had been thought up during the annual volunteers day proved its worth. We collected € 160,00 with the sale of all kinds of nice items, we got a new sponsor and had several interesting contacts. Many thanks to all of you!

Uganda Day 2015

The Uganda Day; a special day for people who are interested in or occupy themselves with Uganda. The last edition in 2013 was a major success. Over 1200 visitors enjoyed a wonderful day filled with interesting debates, workshops, entertainment and both old and new encounters.

As many of you probably know already, the Astrid Uganda Foundation has been actively involved in the organization of this event for years. We will again dedicate ourselves for the next edition in order to turn this day into a great success. Organizing and carrying out this day requires a lot of work and we can therefore use all the help we can get. Does it appeal to you, would you like to assist with the program, or would you rather be involved in promotion work or would you like to help out on that day by helping visitors yourself? Please, let us know and mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. !

If you have a suggestion for the program or on the other hand would like to make a (financial) contribution, we would like to hear from you.

Gemert Market of Sunday, September 8th was much fun. Beforehand, it looked like the market would be spoiled by rainfall but fortunately that's not what happened. We had a nice booth with colorful new items such as aprons and oven mitts. Part of the stall was already in the Christmas spirit by cute nativity angels and Santa Clauses. It was another opportunity to tell our story again and we earned some money by selling beautiful materials.

Kampala's Taxi Park. If you've been there, you know the place. During the Africa Festival in Hertme we had a contest with this picture: how many taxi's are on it? We had a winner on both days. On Saturday Martin van Bentheim was the winner, on Sunday it was Mike Kool. The prize they won is underway!